To Close Our Eyes
Hello, Everyone. I’m afraid I cannot be upbeat today as we launch Volume 7, Issue 1 of Club Plum. I cannot send out my usual, reflective introduction. I am distracted. The president and his followers act out their violence on the innocent. I watch video after video because I want to know the truth, yet it is overwhelming. What will be the climax of this administration’s show of power? We haven’t reached it yet; that, I am sure. A kind woman is shot in the face, murdered by employees of this administration, and shockingly, this is not the climax. Quite the opposite: This act seems to have emboldened the violent leaders and followers. They know they will get away with it. This horror story, in which we are all unfortunate characters, is still in the rising-action stage. What will the ending look like? Feel like? Who will be free when this is over? When will it be over? Will it ever be over?
I had wanted to share thoughts about novel-writing because that has been the other thing on my mind, having just finished a solid, first draft after ten months of writing. I had wanted to mention how I did something different this time while writing, how I closed my eyes, and how that simple act unraveled the kinks in my story, how closing my eyes allowed the false narratives that competed for space on the page to curl away so that my characters could lead me where they needed to go, to the truth of their stories.
Maybe I can still mention that. Maybe I can state that even during these horrendous days, if we are able, it is a good thing to close our eyes, just for a moment–not to pretend that hate isn’t in charge, because it is–but to listen to our characters and to our stories, to our hearts and to our pains, and write it all down, yes, tease it all out, yes, document it and speak it, paint it and draw it and create it, spread our truths, be they fictional or poetic or beautiful or guttural cries for justice.
Yours in Words and Art and Truth,
Thea
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Thea Swanson View All →
Thea Swanson is a feminist atheist who holds an MFA in Writing from Pacific University in Oregon. She is the Founding Editor of Club Plum Literary Journal, and her poetry, fiction, essays and reviews are published in places such as World Literature Today, Mid-American Review and Northwest Review.
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Thea, I do not know when it will be over, but it will be over.. Of that i am certain. That sick old man won’t live forever. And sad though it is, the world fas seen darker days. The only comfort in that fact is, those days passed, as these will, and life got better. It will again. David R.
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Thank you Thea. Finding a way to distract us from the inconcienable actions of our leaders is challenging. The first ten + stories in the New York Times is Trump/ICE/Venezuelan oil—every day! All the network news is Trump. Close your eyes , go for a walk without your phone, spend time with children, neighbors, whoever is close to you.
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Thank you for expressing some of the universal pain that our country is suffering, Thea. I, too, am overwhelmed. Also – thank you for the musical offerings after your writers’ works. I find it wonderfully contemplative and creative. What a wonderful way to savor art.
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